Breath: A Lifetime in the Rhythm of an Iron Lung

I recently saw a documentary on Martha Mason's life and wanted to know more about her, so bought the book. She tells the story of her life, before polio and after. It is an inspiring story (you think you have problems? how'd you like to live in an iron lung for over 50 years!) -- but it is so matter of fact and straightforward. One might wish for a few more medical details, but that is not the story she wants to tell us. The people who care for her come alive that you get to know them too. A keeper.

This is a wonderful book. I absolutely loved it. I grew up in Shelby and today I live not far from Lattimore and I am just in awe that she has lived her life in this iron lung and kept her sanity! This book brought out a gamut of feelings, laughing one minute, to sadness,to tears. As I read I think what a terribly sad life, but she makes it like it is perfectly normal, no big deal, she just has a tiny obstacle to get around. It is impossible to put this book down when you start reading it , so be ready for no sleep till you finish the book. She is an excellent writer and even though I have never met her in person, she is a beautiful lady! My 15 yr old son has the book now and this will be a book we will keep forever and cherish it.I bought a copy and sent to my Sister-In-Law and she read it in one day and called saying how much she loved it. I highly recommend it. I think a TV movie of Martha's Life would make a wonderful Hallmark movie and hope some producers out there will get hold of the book and think about that.

Buy this book. Read it. When you are finished with it, give it to a friend. Then you will have behaved like Martha Mason. She has taken her life, read it over, and acted on it by sharing herself with others. This is the quintessential Martha. She has given so much to her long list of friends that they regard her as extraordinary. I am one of the lucky ones, as I have known Martha all my life. That makes this review, then, unabashedly biased. No matter, because everything Martha writes will generously enrich your life. And she writes well. I was able to wrestle the book away from my father, to whom Martha had given an early release copy. We all were taken away by her writing style, not to mention the stories of early Lattimore, her brother Gaston, her helpers in the home, and many others.Not unlike Martha, her favorite doctor has been an inspiration to me for many years. And not unlike him, Martha has been my hero for at least as long. (At least she listens to my stories and jokes!)Buy this book. You won't regret it.

In Breath, one learns of Mason's survival of 54 years confined to an iron lung as a result of contracting polio at the age of eleven. This courageous woman survived beyond all odds and has excelled beyond belief. She graduated first in her class (at all levels), mastered a voice- activated computer, cared for an invalid mother, and has written this unforgettable memoir. Perhaps her highest achievement though is chronicled in the chapter on "My Fair Helper". Ginger, her longtime caregiver, arrived at Martha's door illiterate and a "diamond in the rough". Martha taught Ginger to read and write and polished her into the gem she is today. Her account of her brother's death from polio in 1948 and her illness which followed is heart-wrenching. The care and support provided by her parents inspires awe. She takes the reader back to the 1940's and her pre-polio days growing up in a small village in rural North Carolina. The childhood adventures of this "spunky" little girl and her friends remind one of "Tom and Huck". This book is destined to become a best seller, and one can only hope that there will be another close on the heels from this author.